Our analysis is roughly the same … but if he HAS taken a big step forward (which we won’t know for 12 more months), a righty-mashing 4th OF has at least SOME value. (Especially when all 3 of our outfielders are right handed.)

First, look at his month to month stats. In April he posted a hitting line of .286/.429/.286 in 28 AB. Hardly impressive at all. In May he got going to the tune of .342/.432/.539 in 76 AB, and got even hotter in June by hitting .378/.478/.565, but in only 38 AB as he missed time to injury. In May and June Span has hit .356/.444/.547 over a stretch of 115 AB, which is not even one-fourth of a season. As mentioned above, Span is hitting way above his career minor league OPS of .713, which even includes this season. And another split that stands out is his righty/lefty numbers. Against right handers this season he’s hitting an unbelievable .418/.525/.612 in 98 AB. Against lefties he’s hitting an abysmal .178/.245/.244 in 45 AB. That’s just alarming.

I see this as simply a hot run by a player who knows he’s out of options. His career numbers and his complete inability to hit left-handed pitching make Span no more than a fourth outfielder in the majors. I don’t think that will ever change.

Last season was the outlier in Casilla’s minor league career. His OPS dropped 100 points from his two previous seasons as he adjusted to AAA pitching. He’s clearly playing out of his mind right now, but he’s been playing well and it doesn’t look “flukey” unless he loses his confidence or the game speeds back up for him. I expect him to regress a little, but remain at least average offensively for a second baseman.

This season is very clearly the outlier for Span’s minor league career. Only once has he broken a 700 OPS before (split between high-A and AA in 2005). His OPS is up 250 points over his last two seasons.

I think Span’s situation is more comparable to Buscher’s. It’s possible that Span has finally put some things together and turned a corner as a hitter. But a couple of good months is way too soon to make that decision. If he hits like this (or within 100 points of OPS of it) for the rest of the season and continues at the start of next season, then it was probably real and our current opinion of Span will have turned out to be incorrect. Otherwise, it was just a couple of good months. Not nearly enough to justify benching Delmon Young for.

Couldn’t the same thing be said of Casilla? Sure, Casilla is playing well right now (and Span is doing it at AAA), but Casilla is definitely playing above what he’s shown in the minors up until now no?

It might help the fans that Redmond wouldn’t be “let go,” and would remain in the organization. So perhaps there won’t be as much blind outrage in his case.

That’s true about Livan. He’s the guy I trust the least of all the starters. When it’s Baker or Perkins, I’m thinking “Okay, we’ve got a good game coming;” when it’s Blackburn or Slowey, I’m thinking “Hopefully they put together another good game;” when it’s Livan, I’m thinking “Boy, I hope we score 10 runs tonight.”

I wonder how much Liriano effects their plans for Livan. Obviously the organization isn’t going to talk about it, but Liriano has looked decent at AAA for the past several weeks. Definitely ready to out-perform Livan. If they feel Liriano is ready, they’ll deal Livan. If they feel like they want to wait until next season, maybe they won’t deal him.

That’s my take on that.

I pick the players I like based on on-field performance. I don’t care if he is a nice guy, or a hard worker. I like to think that Mauer and Morneau work hard, AND have ability.

Another thought I had the other day. Livan. We won’t trade him until we are out of contention is the vibe I’m getting. However, if we do fall out of contention, I bet it will have a lot to do with his inability to get people out. Funny how that works out.

Dougie Syndrome. I like it. It’s immediately evident who it’s about, and its namesake is a great example of exactly that.

But while you’re right that Twins fans get attached to the players, I think it’s wrong to criticize that. Fans should get attached to players. And then feel like crap when those players fail to produce or leave via free agency or get traded to another team. And then attach themselves to the next guy on the team — it’s part of being a fan of a team.

That said, though, I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that wasn’t exactly your point. People are attached to Mauer and Morneau — good. People were attached to Hunter and Santana — that was painful. People are/were attached to Punto and Tyner and Mientkiewicz — that doesn’t mean those players should start, or even remain with the team.

People should attach themselves to good players who make the team better, and perhaps more importantly, Gardy shouldn’t give a hoot who the fans like — it’s his job to put the best team on the field. Nick Punto is not part of that.

Every defensive metric pegs his range at below average, and his arm is bafflingly weak.

The only reason people think he’s good in the field is that he can’t hit. (The inverse relationship between hitting ability and perceived fielding ability.)